scaught

Kind of a general question about Mediterranean cruises. We are considering one in September, the 'Spanish obsession' itinerary. We want to do a cruise because it seems like a good way to experience a few different European cities (we live in the US).

We know from the dozen or so Caribbean cruises that you basically see the cruise economy in port and not much else (t shirt shops, senor frogs, etc). My assumption is the European cruises are different and you can probably see the actual city/culture/etc? Am i wrong? 

When we were at gunbae in December, we wanted more food so we just asked our food DJ to bring us some more. Agree the portions are kinda small. 

Looks great. We're back on VV in a couple weeks. Going to try and get off the boat for bimini early like you did so we get our choice of seats/shade. FYI the menu at the beach food place changes halfway through the day.

weird question but any idea what the minimum bet is at the craps table? When I was on in in December it was $25. Hoping they dropped it to something more reasonable....

Last I was on VV we drank mostly champagne and negronis (usually made with mezcal!). 

Just throwing my two cents in as someone who was on scarlet lady in December, and will be back onboard in a month.

We never went to extra virgin but I want to try it.
We were underwhelmed by test kitchen. It was interesting enough, but there were some service issues (maybe an off night). All that said, I would only go back if the menu was different. 
The wake was good, but I feel like my steak could have been cooked better (again, maybe an off night). Would definitely go back. 
Pink Agave was probably our favorite. Food was excellent and the cocktails were awesome. Would be very happy to go back. 
Gunbae is fun and the food is good, but it depends on who you're with I guess (unless you have a party of 6 they sit you with another party). The group we sat with was definitely quirky. 
The Dock (back of the boat on deck 7 i think?) was great. It's a small plates kind of thing but those bites were as good as anything else I had on the ship. There's also a really nice outdoor space here that would be good for sail away. 
Razzle dazzle was good for brunch. Some interesting options. We went there a few times.
Food on the beach in Bimini was very good. They also change the menu and start serving other things about halfway through the day.
We also never made it to sun club cafe (serves poke bowls). Eager to give it a try. I think we missed it because it's kind of out of the way.
 

Just closing this out in case someone stumbles upon it someday: there was an app update in the last 24 hours, and I'm able to get into the app now. Apologies, person in the future who this information may not help.

June 5 so 1.5 months or so. Only other complication I can think of is we went with the 'you assign us a balcony stateroom' booking so maybe that's borking the app because we don't have one assigned yet? 

anyone else not able to get into the VV app on their phone (in my case iPhone)? 

I've tried deleting/re-downloading, and restarting my phone and still nothing. I tried a support chat and they said to try again in a few days which seems weird. Wife wasn't able to get into the app either. 

40 minutes ago, xerenthar said:

the people who say these cabin bathrooms are small have never lived in a nyc apartment and it shows. 

I've done mostly RCCL cruises, but it looks like a normal bathroom on a cruise ship to me? 

Im kinda confused as to how it works. As I read it, I was bidding extra monies to get an upgraded room. I figured it was probably not a great offer, but I put 135 in as a bid (on top of what I already paid for a centrally located balcony room) for an XL Sea Terrace. I got an email this week that I was outbid. When i check the site, it says 'You’ve been outbid! Increase your offer to $6,603 USD to be in 1st place'. Someone is really wanting to pay that much extra on top of what they already paid?  

I am booked for the NYE cruise. I was able to reserve some restaurants this evening? I am in a balcony room, but not a suite. 

Here's what I did: launch virgin app. hit discover tab. selected "ship". selected "eateries". selected a restaurant, then selected day/time and booked it. The days presented are days of our cruise. The restaurants I booked now appear on My Agenda. Not sure why I was able to do this considering I'm not in a suite? Your mileage may vary...

I think I know the answer, but because I took the double credit rebook deal there's no chance of getting my $ back, right? 

I don't know how to edit a post, but I just got an email. I'm all settled up now. Nothing to do now but wait. 

Folks that did a rebook: what does your booking page on the VV site show? 

Right now, I have a credit showing in the amount of my original voyage fare, and I still owe 2x that in my Voyage Balance section. I did the rebook 5 days ago, so maybe this will sort itself out in a few days. Just wondering if I need to call again. 

19 hours ago, airlinerob said:

Hi All -

 

I was on the 11-day transatlantic cruise on Virgin Voyages from Liverpool, England to Miami, FL.

 

If you have any questions about the ship, food, etc - let me know.  I posted a ton of information and photos on my Facebook page, but I don’t know that I’m allowed to post a link to it.

 

Robert

I was just checking out your photos. Are the stateroom photos early on a normal sea terrace? Looking at a deck plan for that stateroom number it looks like a Central Sea Terrace? People complain about size but it looks like every state room I've ever stayed in. I see a closet to put luggage which I saw people talking about on here. The bathroom looks normal for a cruise ship - if anything the shower looks bigger than showers in RCCL? How was the bed for sleeping? 

Do you have an opinion on "the galley"? buffet or other? 

Everything looks awesome. I'm excited to sail (in like 9 months 😞 )

10 minutes ago, rebeccac said:

My example (close, but not entirely accurate).

 

Cruise fare is $2000.  Deposit paid is $400 leaving a $1600 balance that was set to be paid the beginning of April.  If we take the 200% deal, we would have $4000 in credit to move to another cruise, but still only have the $1600 balance?  What is the best guess? 

Well. Your current reservation is going to get cancelled. Your deposit will get refunded. I think at the end of the day you're going to pay the same amount as your existing Voyage Fare but get a new cruise that costs 2x that voyage fare. 

this page has the 200% language: https://www.virginvoyages.com/Web-Marketing/deals.html

I don't see anything there that excludes people who have only paid a deposit. They're trying to make things right with people who have to re-arrange their lives because the cruise line is canceling plans. You only making a deposit shouldn't change that IMO. If it did that would be bad for VV i would think. Interested to hear how it actually works out for you. Good luck! 

42 minutes ago, rebeccac said:

 

My husband and I have very different interpretations of the 200% thing, so it will be interesting to hear how it works in practice.  We were scheduled to be on the cruise that is right before the new inaugural cruise, so we have not yet made final payment, so I don't know if the 200% is only on the paid portion or on the total fare for the cabin.  And can this money all be used on the new rescheduled cruise?  So many questions.  However, since there are so many others that are much closer to their sailing dates, I figured I would wait a week or so to call my TA.  

The 200% works like this. When you book you probably got a receipt that shows two numbers:

TAXES & FEES : $####
VOYAGE FARE : $####
 

Taxes and fees get refunded to you. if you bought into the bar tab credit thing, the amount you paid gets refunded to you. 

The voyage fare is what the 200% is based on, so you have credit towards a cruise that is 2x your voyage fare. In my case, i picked the new year cruise so I had to add in a little extra beyond the 2x to cover it. If you pick a cruise that costs less, I'm not sure what happens. Their "on board credit while booking" deal increased at some point, so my balcony booking now includes $300 OBC where before it was only 200. 

It sounds like you are making payments and haven't paid in full yet.  I paid 100% for my cruise already, if I was on payment plan I"m not sure how all this would work. Guessing it doesn't change and it's based on the full voyage fare, just mentioning. I got a call back in almost exactly 2 hours, so give it a shot. 

I called about an hour ago and hit 1 for a call back. I sat on hold for 2 hours 45 minutes yesterday, so maybe this will work. I put a hold on the cruise I want as someone else recommended, but if the 200% works like I think it does maybe I can get an XL just because. 

Find a good bartender, tip them extra on top of the package, and all sorts of options will open up for you.